Triple Step
by Ari Moriarty
Summary: Much to Phoenix's dismay, Pearl and Maya drag him out dancing.


**Author's Note: **I have written fanfiction for other games before, but this is my first time writing Phoenix Wright fanfiction. I sort of fell head-over-heels in love with the Ace Attorney games a few weeks ago, and have since purchased and played every single one of them in a sort of terrifying gaming binge. Now I have to write something to satisfy the fangirl in me.

I'm not sure if I'm going to be any good at writing these characters. If you like what you read, and if you're interested in seeing more from me, please leave a note or a private message and let me know. I'd really appreciate it.

I hope you have as much fun reading this as I am having writing it!

**First Story: Triple Step**

**April 20, 2019**

"Niiiiiiick!" Maya Fey burst through the huge double doors to the Gatewater hotel grand ballroom, pulling Phoenix Wright by one arm, while Pearl Fey held firmly on to the other. "Come on! I want to be there first so that we can see everyone in their fancy dress-ups!"

"Fancy dress-ups?" Phoenix eyed Maya's trainee garb. "How come you didn't bother getting dressed up for this? People watching's awfully intrusive. Besides, haven't you ever heard of being 'fashionably late?' OW!"

Pearl was now pulling harder. "Mr Nick…Mr Nick, come on, it's rude to be late. You don't want to make Mystic Maya wait, do you?"

_Jeez…all right, already. Just stop all the pulling! _Phoenix gave up and let the two overenthusiastic women drag him into the center of the ballroom floor.

There was a full band setting up on the stage at the far end of the room, complete with a saxophonist, a couple of guitarists, a drummer and a vocalist in a very flashy-looking and skimpy blue dress. Pearl blushed when she saw the length of the hemline the singer was wearing, but Maya didn't seem to notice. She was too busy gazing around with stars in her eyes at the fancy décor and all the people bustling into the ballroom.

"Wow," breathed Pearl. "This is so…fancy."

"Yeah," agreed Maya, nodding vigorously. "Aren't we lucky, Nick? We really know some great people, and it was super sweet of Ms. Andrews to get us these special expensive tickets for free!"

Phoenix frowned to himself. _I guess this was the best way she could come up with to make up for the whole 'breaking the sacred urn' incident,_ he thought. _Still, tickets to a swing dance? Who even goes to a 'swing dance' anymore? Isn't that something that really old people do when they're feeling the need to 'get in touch with their youth,' or something? _

"Um…Mr. Nick." Phoenix realized that Pearl was giving him an extremely dubious look. "Did you really have to wear that suit? Shouldn't you have picked something nicer to wear out on your big date with Mystic Maya?"

Pearl's eyes bored holes in Phoenix's soul. He flinched, looked down, and examined the cuffs of his classic blue suit. _But…this is the only kind of suit I have. I have four of them. What does she want from me? And besides, this isn't a-!_

Abruptly, as if on some kind of cue, the band began to play. They opened with a fast, exciting, swinging number full of brass and a lot of quick beats. All around Phoenix and the girls, people began linking arms and moving onto the ballroom floor. Phoenix sidestepped instinctively out of the way, and collided immediately with Maya, who was gazing up expectantly at him.

"Wh-what?" He blinked at her. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Maya chewed on her lip, and twisted at the fabric on one of her trainee sleeves. "Niiick…"

_No. No, you cannot be serious. No way. _Phoenix gaped, but he wasn't fast enough on the draw to head Maya off in time.

"Aren't we going to dance, Nick?" Maya was still staring at him. "After all, this is called a swing 'dance.' I mean, I think you're supposed to 'dance' at one of those…right?"

"M-me? Dance? Are you…are you crazy?" Phoenix was trying not to panic. "I can't dance. I have a lot of left feet. Way too many left feet. I'll probably trip all over you and embarrass the heck out of you and Pearls, and…"

"Oh, that's okay," Maya assured him, beaming and cutting him off. "I'm pretty clumsy, too. We can trip all over each other! Come on, it'll be fun!"

She held out a gallant hand, grinning trustingly at him, and Phoenix knew that he was cornered with nowhere to run. For some reason, Pearl was now glaring at him with what felt like the heat of a thousand suns.

_No way out, _he thought, feeling the sweat start to collect on the back of his neck. "Uh…okay, s-sure. I mean. Just once, okay? Just, uh, don't expect too much from me. I may have been an art student for a little while, but that doesn't mean that I'm good at-! ACK!"

Maya didn't wait for him to finish his protestations. Instead, she grabbed him by both arms and swung him out on to the dance floor.

"Okay, Nick!" She nodded encouragingly at him. "Remember what we learned! It goes 'triple-step, triple-step, rock-step! One foot in, one foot back, rock back!"

'_Remember what we learned?' _Phoenix blinked. _Wh…when did we learn this, exactly?_

He managed to maneuver stiffly around the floor for what felt like hours, but was probably actually only a couple of minutes. After a few turns around the other couples, he was starting to get dizzy, and Maya was frowning at him.

"Um…" She bit her lip. "Aren't you having fun, Nick?"

Phoenix blinked. "Huh? Hey, come on, this wasn't my idea, or anything. I told you, I'm not a dancer."

Maya sighed. For some reason, she really seemed kind of down about this. "I know. I just thought you might enjoy getting out and letting loose for once, you know? They say that dancing and other kinds of exercise are good for relieving stress!"

_If that hadn't come out of Maya, _thought Phoenix, _I'd have to take it a whole different way…_

"Uh, look, I appreciate the concern," he began, "but, really, I-!"

Maya suddenly snapped her fingers and gave him a determined little nod. "Oh! I've got it! I know what'll make you happier!"

"Huh?" Phoenix wasn't sure he liked the sound of that. "What do you mean, 'happier?'"

Maya pointed at something just over Phoenix's shoulder. "Oh, wow, look, over there! It's someone getting brutally murdered by someone else who really needs a lawyer!"

"What the-?" Phoenix turned around before he'd even had time to catch himself. Of course, there was nothing suspicious going on behind him All he could see behind him were a bunch of older people in really big skirts and suits twirling each other around in ways that he wouldn't have expected would come so naturally to anyone over the age of sixty-five.

Even as he began turning back to face Maya, he felt the slight change in the way her shoulders sat under his hands. He had one arm very lightly around her waist, and there was a shift and a movement in her body that he couldn't really explain until he looked up into her face and found himself staring into the older, wiser, deeper eyes of his deceased mentor, Mia Fey.

"Oh," he mumbled.

She smiled at him. "Hello, Phoenix. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Deftly, like she knew what she was doing, she turned him around and guided him a little closer to the band. Unlike Maya, she moved with a kind of grace that he'd always admired about her. It wasn't just her arguments that were precise and elegant. Her whole person and presence commanded attention. For the first time, he found his feet moving more rhythmically, like he knew what he was doing in Mia's expert care.

"How are you doing?" she asked him, acting for all the world like dancing with a dead woman was entirely normal.

"I'm…fine," he said. "I'm all right. It's-!"

"You're tired," she corrected him quietly, peering into his face with that same piercingly careful scrutiny that had made her such an excellent lawyer in the first place. "You're exhausted, Phoenix. Maya's right. You need to relax. You shouldn't be working yourself so hard."

It was hard to argue with Mia when she got into one of her lecturing moods. "I…I guess you're right," muttered Phoenix. "I have been overdoing it a little lately, maybe. There's been a lot of work…"

Mia nodded. "She's very worried about you, you know."

"Huh?" Phoenix frowned. "Who's worried?"

"Don't be an idiot." Mia rolled her eyes. "Maya is worried. She may not like to talk to you about it, but she does worry. She cares about you very much, and she is my little sister. You'd better not be too much of a burden on her."

Mia raised a warning eyebrow, and Phoenix smiled despite himself. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'll, uh…I'll see what I can do, okay?"

"See that you do," murmured Mia. Then she smiled, a mischievous, coy little smile that he'd see her give once or twice in the courtroom when she knew that she'd already won, and was really just having her fun. "You're both very important to me," she said, her eyes softening a little. "You and Maya…you're all I have left, if you think about it. You're my legacy, and you're quite dear to me. Don't go overworking and spoiling everything we've both done. Is that clear?"

Phoenix never had a chance to answer, although he wasn't sure what he would have said if he could have spoken up. Mia chose that moment to dip abruptly backwards, and he caught her just in time to keep her head from hitting the floor. She grinned at him as he hauled her back upright, then spun and drew him back into something that might have been called a dance, but was really more of a confusing serious of jerks and spins that Phoenix couldn't claim he was fully responsible for.

Some time later, he and Mia took a break and moved out on to the balcony to get some fresh air.

"Are you having fun, now?" Mia wasn't lookint at him. Instead, she was gazing off into the distance, although Phoenix had no idea what exactly she was looking at. He followed her gaze, but couldn't find anything interesting to fix on.

"Yeah," he admitted. "Yeah. I am. I'm glad we came out here. This…maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all."

"That's good." Mia smiled, and it was a softer smile than she usually awarded him. "Just do me a favor. No matter what, remember to be happy. In the end, that's what really matters to us both. Do you understand?"

"I…wait, both? You mean-?" Phoenix turned back to Mia, but found that she'd gone. Maya's form and consciousness had returned to her body, and she was now giving phoenix a hesitant, uncertain little grin.

"Um," she asked, "was that okay? Did you like that?"

"Yeah," muttered Phoenix, still a little thrown by the sudden transformation. "Yeah, I mean…sure, it's always nice to see her again. Thanks, Maya." He thought about some of the things that Mia had told him, and began again, "Hey, is it true that you-?"

"Oh, that's good." Maya nodded solemnly. "Because, well…I thought maybe that you needed Mia right now. I know that you two never had much time to, um…you know, to get to know each other, but I know that she meant a lot to you, and…well, of course, she means a lot to me too, but I thought that since you seem a little down, you might…uh, you might want to be with her for a bit. You know, being with Mia might cheer you up." Again, Maya nodded, more to herself than to Phoenix. For some reason, she looked a little bit sad, even though she was still smiling.

"Hey." Phoenix opened his mouth, frowned, closed it again, and tried to figure out exactly what it was he wanted to say. "Look, I mean…sure, like I said, it's always great to see Mia. But…it's nice to see you, too, you know?"

Maya blinked.

Phoenix shrugged. "I get what you're trying to do. And, uh…okay, maybe I'm not big on dancing, and I think swing is for old crazy people with an alarming number of feet, but it's nice that you were thinking about how to help me de-stress. Not everybody has a partner who's willing to do this kind of thing as a pick—me-up."

This time, Maya almost smiled. "Uh, you're welcome," she said.

"Look, Maya," Phoenix went on, a little awkwardly, but still determined. "You're my best friend. You know that, right? You've been through hell with me. That's not a thing you can say about everybody. It's nice to get a chance to be with Mia, but I'm really happy just to get to be here with you."

"N-Nick!" Maya looked startled, turned slightly pink, then beamed from ear to hear and suddenly threw her arms around Phoenix's shoulders. "I think that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me! Aw, maybe being stressed makes you turn supper nice! I could get used to this!"

Phoenix laughed. "Hey, maybe I'm just a nice guy in general. Did you ever think of that?"

"Mystic Maya? Mr. Nick?" Pearl came through the balcony doors, looking worried. "Where did you go? Oh!" Turning much redder than Maya had a few moments ago, she blinked, held out both hands, and exclaimed, "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt a, um, a moment! I can, um…I'll go find some juice, or-!"

Maya waved a dismissive hand. "Oh come o, Pearly! When are you gonna believe me that it's not like that? Nick and I aren't-!"

Phoenix shook his head. "It's okay, Pearls. Maya and I'll have more time to spend together later." He turned and gave Maya a sheepish little smile. "Because I'm not going anywhere, right? That's what friends do. They look out for each other. Okay?"

"Okay." Maya nodded eagerly. "Um…yeah. That's what friends are for!"

Pearl was now gazing uncertainly back and forth between Phoenix and Maya, both of whom were smiling in a kind of foolish way. "Uh…well, i-if you're sure,' She mumbled, starting to back away through the doors again.

Phoenix reached out a hand to her. "Hey, wait a second, Pearls. Where are you going? I haven't gotten to dance with you, yet. What do you say? Are you up for getting your feet stepped on?"

Pearl looked startled. Maya laughed.

The night went on, better than when it had started.

**Fin. **


End file.
